Blink
by Augo
Summary: And you'll miss it.
1. Chapter 1

If you called Izuku crazy, he would agree. Currently, he was running towards a villain that had his childhood bully, Bakugo, as a hostage.

"Get back here you fool! Stop!" A hero yelled behind him.

'It's my fault! That's the same villain All Might saved me from. If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened!'

Taking his bag off of his back, Izuku chucked it at the slimy villain. Before getting even closer and shoving his hands into the slimy monster, trying to dig Bakugo out.

'What was I expecting?!'

"Idiot! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I don't know! My legs just moved on their own!" Izuku cried, struggling to pull Bakugo out.

"Stop! You dumb ass, how did you even get here?!"

Izuku didn't understand what he meant. It was just him. Until he noticed another set of arms in the mix. Attached to a familiar mop of blonde hair.

It was his longtime friend, Naruto, standing there next to him. Dazed. Confused. Izuku was sure he hadn't been there before.

"N-Naruto?!"

"What the...?" The blond mumbled, raising his hands in front of his face, flexing his slime covered fingers.

It didn't matter.

"Naruto! Pull!"

"W-Wait! What's going on here?" Naruto shouted. The situation dawning on him. "Izuku? Katsuki?"

"Pull!" Izuku panted, his eyes locked on the disgusting tar seeping into Bakugo's mouth. Down his throat. Choking him. Killing him!

"R-Right!" Naruto said, grabbing onto the same arm as Izuku and pulling with all his might.

'How did I get here?' Naruto thought, mind racing. 'I was...no! I can worry about that later! Right now I need to help Izuku get Katsuki out of this thing!'

"Hold on tight, Izuku!" He yelled. Intent on pulling Bakugo out.

The muscles in his arms were screaming bloody murder. His joints popping. Bones creaking. For a creature made of goop, its hold was incredible!

'If this keeps up, we'll be swallowed in too!'

"A pro should always be willing to risk his life!" Was the only thing he heard before he felt himself be blown up into the air by hurricane-like winds.

After he was set on the ground, Naruto stood back up. His head pounding.

"Izuku, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you N-"

"Huh?" Naruto asked. To his confusion, Izuku's lips moved at a snail's pace, his voice far deeper than it should have been.

"I don't feel so good," Naruto said, or at least tried to say, he couldn't be sure at the moment.

His vision blurred as he tried to walk towards Izuku.

Stumbling he fell forward before everything went black.

* * *

Naruto was out of the hospital in a few hours. While he felt okay, he couldn't help but be a little sore from all the action earlier in the day.

'I wonder if Katsuki and Izuku are okay?'

While Naruto didn't particularly like the explosive guy, having a weird slime monster enter your body was not something he wished on him. Or anyone.

He shivered. 'Just thinking about it gives me the creeps.' Approaching the door to his house, Naruto pulled out his keys and unlocked it. "I'm home!"

Not that anyone heard him. He put his skateboard against the wall and took off his shoes. Walking into the living room, he turned on the lights and took off his jacket, putting his bookbag next to the couch.

Making his way over to the kitchen he opened the fridge. Only to frown and shut the door with a tired sigh.

"Right. I meant to get groceries after school."

Without anything else to do, Naruto turned the television on and sat down on the couch. He flipped through the channels a bit before landing on the news. A familiar scene immediately caught his eye.

"Heh. Looks like we made the headlines." Naruto said. He watched for a while, listening to the reports as All-Might grinned into the camera. Before a loud buzz echoed throughout his shabby home.

With a groan, Naruto walked to his door and looked through the peephole. To his surprise, it was Izuku standing with a container of food in his hands.

"Hey, Naruto! My mom made some extra food, she told me to bring it over and check up on you. Open the door I know you're here!"

Naruto grinned. Free food.

"Make yourself at home." The blonde said, opening his door and stepping to the side, allowing Izuku in.

Izuku smiled and walked in, putting the container on the dining table.

"You gonna eat now or should I put this in the fridge?" He asked.

"Nah, I'll eat it now. I didn't have a chance to buy food today. Honey." Naruto responded with a wink. Ignoring Izuku's flustered expression.

Going into his kitchen, he grabbed a fork along with a drink. Went he came back into the living room, Izuku was eyeing a random piece of decor he'd bought at a garage sale.

"Hmm. I don't think that lava-lamp is that interesting unless it has a genie trapped inside."

"N-Naruto..." Izuku trailed off for a moment, looking unsure. "I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why are you sorry?" He asked, popping open the warm container. It was white rice with a side of curry. A rare treat for Naruto. The instant ramen didn't really do much besides taste good and shut his stomach up.

"I know you jumped in to help me. If...If I hadn't been so stupid, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Naruto eyed his longtime friend. Izuku was always thinking. Overthinking to be precise. He couldn't imagine how the guy must have felt while two of his best friends were in the Hospital.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like anyone got seriously hurt or anything. Besides, the way you bolted out to save that hothead. I don't know. I thought it was pretty cool. I couldn't help it!" Naruto grinned.

Izuku didn't say much after that. The two sat in a comfortable silence while Naruto shoveled food into his mouth. Until...

"I-I think you should apply to U.A," Izuku said.

Naruto blinked. "What? Why would I do that?"

"I don't know...I think you could help a lot of people with your quirk."

He laughed. "My quirk is useless, remember?" There's no way Izuku had forgotten about his quirk already? "You didn't hit your head that hard, did you?"

"N-No! The paramedics even checked me after All-Might saved us," Izuku responded. "Do you not know what happened? I thought you ran up to help me, but everyone was talking about how you teleported!"

"Teleported?" Naruto asked.

"It's true! Heroes were even talking about how they wanted you to be their sidekick!"

"I don't remember teleporting though." He crossed his arms and relived the moment. "All I know is looking at you, and that feeling of desperately wanting to save both you and Katsuki. But I was too far..."

"Exactly!" Izuku yelled before his face turned red. "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to yell. A-Anyway, that's the thing. A lot of the people there said you just...appeared."

Naruto hummed aloud.

Izuku put his hand on his chin. " I don't know how you did it, but you definitely teleported. I don't know how though...?" Naruto watched his friend enter what he dubbed, Izuku-Think mode. "Wait..it couldn't be? But...hmm. Maybe? Yes! No. Yes? No! Or..."

This went on for another minute when finally, Izuku came up with an idea.

"I got it! Remember earlier today when you found my notebook?" Izuku asked.

Naruto nodded along.

"Well, I think… Why?" Naruto asked, not sure what his friend was leading to.

"That's the reason you teleported!" Izuku said matter-of-factly.

"Do you think we could test it out somehow?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm. Maybe. Do you have paper anywhere?"

Naruto pointed at his bag. "In there. Tear a page out of any notebook I don't care." He got up and made for the kitchen. His dishes in hand.

"You should really tidy up your bag, Naruto!" He heard from the living room.

Naruto muttered something under his breath, "So how are we going to test this theory of yours anyway?"

"You'll see! Come here and put your mark on this, please!"

Grumbling, Naruto went over to Izuku and placed his hand on the paper. Where his palm used to be, now lay an inky, black spiral, that measured about an inch and a half in diameter.

"Ok. Now what?"

"Go back into the kitchen and, well...do whatever you did against the villain! Think really hard! Focus!"

"Easier said than done," Naruto remarked. Sighing, he walked back into the kitchen. "Okay. How should I do this?"

Closing his eyes, he tried his best to relive the moment. Izuku and that hotheaded idiot. How frantic and chaotic it was. How scared he felt, watching his only friend risk his life.

A boy with no quirk. The biggest wimp he knew. Leaped into action, abandoning all thoughts of self-preservation.

How angry he felt. That he couldn't do the same. He couldn't move his legs. He wanted too, but he couldn't!

That feeling!

He never wanted to feel like that again!

"Holy shit..."

"Izuku?" Wait. That sounded a lot closer than before. When he opened his eyes, Naruto met the stupefied expression of his best friend and uttered a single word.

"What?" Then it hit him.

"It worked!" Izuku cried,

"Whoa...It worked?" He managed a single step before losing balance. A sudden wave of nausea hitting him.

"Naruto! Are you okay?!" Izuku asked, catching him mid-fall.

"Yeah. Yeah...just tired." Naruto said, grabbing Izuku's hand. "That was weird."

Izuku helped him regain his balance. A wide grin on his face. "See! I told you! That's why I think you should be a hero! Think of all the good you could do with your quirk!"

His friend's enthusiasm was infectious.

"This. This is so cool!"

Without a word, he bolted out the front door of his own place.

"Wait! Naruto, you're still hurt! Where are you go...ing?" Izuku didn't finish get to finish his sentence. Naruto was right in front of him. He needed only blink.

"Izuku. Izuku, I'm freaking out man. You have no idea how much fun this is!" Naruto wrapped a total four more times before suddenly stopping. His once tan features now ghost white.

"Why did you stop?" Izuku asked.

"I think I'm gonna hurl..."

"Oh."

Naruto proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach, while Izuku panicked. This proceeded for a full minute before the blond fell back with a loud groan. Obviously exhausted.

"Note to self. Don't spam. So, are you still going to apply for U.A?" Naruto asked, still laying in a half-pool of his own vomit.

"Y-Yeah. I think I have a good chance of getting in too." Izuku responded. Pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Really? What makes you say that?"

"It's just...a feeling I have."

"Yeah? Well. If anyone can, it's you." He didn't see the blush that spread across Izuku's cheeks. "By the way, do you want me to wash the bowl and bring it over tomorrow?"

"You can keep it for the night."

"Alright. I'll see you out then." He tried getting up but failed. "On second thought, I'll just hang out here. See you later, Izuku. Thanks for everything."

Izuku chuckled nervously, "Right. See you later."

* * *

Thanks to my friend Cats for betaing this chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Alarms are annoying. Making all kinds of noise in the morning. Didn't they know people were trying to sleep for crying out loud!

Sitting up, Naruto rubbed his eyes and yawned. Glancing at the clock. Not quite believing what he saw, the blonde rubbed his eyes harder.

. . .

"IM GOING TO BE LATE!"

He jumped out of bed and rushed for the bathroom. He was only halfway done throwing on his pants before starting to brush his teeth.

Naruto didn't bother eating breakfast. There was no time. A major bummer that, as he'd been saving a very special bowl of Ramen for such an occasion!

Luckily, he packed his bag the previous night. "I'm off!" He cried, to no one. Shutting the door behind him and locking it tight.

With a deep breath, he steeled his nerves, Naruto took one look at the bright blue sky hanging above him and grinned.

'If I sprint there I should make it on time. Let's hope all those years on the Track team pay off.' Without another thought on the matter, he was off.

Naruto weaved through the streets of Musutafu. Managing to dodge the most crowded of areas and duck the morning rush. When the iconic glass buildings peered out, he felt his energy double.

'Looks like I'll make it after all!'

Bursting through the gate, the blonde caught sight of his friend Izuku ahead. Talking to a girl no less!

Slowing himself down so he wouldn't crash into him, Naruto approached. "Yo! Izuku-chan."

Izuku turned around, pale cheeks flushed. "N-Naruto! I finally found you!"

"Huh?"

The girl Izuku was with giggled, then waved goodbye before practically skipping away. Weird.

"D-Did you see! I talked to a girl!"

"Yeah. I saw," Naruto said, patting Izuku on the back. "You'll have plenty of time for more of that later. Let's get going. We don't want to be late for the entrance ceremony."

They walked to the auditorium, making small talk on the way. Izuku telling him more about the girl. Apparently, she'd seen him on the news and wanted to say hi. Naruto mentioning how he'd overslept.

"That's just like you," Izuku said. "I'm glad you made it."

"You're telling me."

The pair found their seats with no trouble and sat down.

Fortunately, they managed to find two empty seats next to each other. Unfortunately, one of them would have to sit next to Katsuki.

Naruto decided to take one for the team.

"Yellow." Katsuki spat, glaring at him.

"You're a blonde too."

"Shut up! I'll murder you!"

The usual greeting.

Suddenly, the lights above them all went off. Some type of podium in front of them the only thing being illuminated.

Glancing over at his friend, Naruto withheld a smile. He could feel the excitement pouring off of him. The same face he'd make when they'd watch All-Might cartoons plastered on him right now.

'He's always been like this...' A thought crossed his mind, 'I wonder how you'll do, Izuku.'

For a moment, it was silent. Until a man wearing a weird costume walked out onto the stage and took a deep breath.

"Welcome, everyone! To my live show! Everybody say HEY!"

Ear-rape. This must be his Hero name.

"P-P-Present Mic!" Izuku uttered next to him.

The Hero preceded to talk about what was going to happen today. Naruto droned it all out. He didn't mean too. He just did. When he came to, Present Mic was mentioning that people from the same school wouldn't be put in the same exam.

"You got lucky, blondie. They did that so I wouldn't crush both of you," Katsuki growled, clicking his tongue.

"I know you'd help me out, Suki-chan," Naruto responded with an easy smile. Ignoring the curses Katsuki threw at him.

The instructor went on to explain about the villains they would be facing, and that they weren't allowed to attack each other. Naruto didn't mind fighting robots, although, his hands would probably hurt after punching them.

While Naruto's thoughts wandered, someone closer to the stage stood up and began asking questions about the exam. He heard mentions of four robots before the guy turned around and glared directly at him.

"Also, you back there!" Naruto blinked. "With the curly hair!" Izuku pointed at himself and the boy nodded. "Can't you sit still for a second? If you think this place is for fun, you better leave. Show some respect."

Before Izuku could apologize, Naruto decided to speak up.

"Why don't you mind your own business? Four-eyes."

The boy frowned at Naruto, made to say something, decided against it. Then sat back down.

"OH BABY! Settle down!" Present Mic said, "By the way, to answer your question. Examine, the fourth villain you'll face is worth zero points."

Naruto listened, noting that it was considered an arena trap.

"Now, then! Let's move on to the main event!" Present Mic shouted. "Plus-Ultra!"

* * *

Naruto stared at the fenced-in city in front of him and withheld a whistled. He'd expected a lot of running so he packed a tracksuit, but a whole city?

"Didn't expect it to be this big. Then again, I didn't really know what to expect in the first place."

Studying his surroundings, he eyed the competition. As they said, there was no one from his middle school.

'I wonder when we'll start.'

. . .

"Well? What is it? What are you staring at me for? There's no countdown in a real battle! MOVE!"

Naruto blinked once, then bolted. He was followed by the other examines in the group. Running ahead of the group meant that he would likely encounter a villain first. Thankfully, he was ready.

Taking a left into an alleyway, Naruto came across a robot. It immediately noticed him and approached with the intent to do harm. One gun attached to each arm, aiming directly at his chest. He didn't give the chance to follow through with its attack.

Naruto cocked his fist back and hit the robot in the head, knocking it clean off.

'The small ones are easy. I don't know about the bigger one. I'll still need to be careful.'

When he left the alley, Naruto came face to face with three more villains. Each of varying size and armed to the teeth.

"That paper said the bigger villains are studier, but slower." Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Not that it matters."

He ran at the robot closest and bashed it in the head. Unlike the last one, however, this one took the hit and countered with its own blow.

"Too slow."

Naruto ducked the swing, then, using the robots extended arm as a springboard. He propelled himself into the air and kneed the robot in the chin, knocking it back.

Breaking his fall with a roll, the blonde followed through and made short work of the rest.

"This is pretty easy." He said aloud. "Wait...what's that sound?"

A hiss. A very loud hiss, followed by more.

It was getting closer and closer.

'Behind!'

He dived out of the way in the nick-of-time. A swarm of mini-rockets sped past him, tumbling into the streets and exploding at a distance.

'Oh, wow.' He thought, eyeing the explosion.

Naruto didn't get much time to gawk before another barrage of missiles blasted toward him. He dodged them easily by running around, only for yet another barrage to be shot off.

'Shit. Getting close won't be easy!'

Naruto moved, dodging missile after missile. A moments hesitation spelled disaster. Slamming a hand on the ground, he placed a mark then ran to the left of the hulking robot.

It followed him and fired an onslaught of weapons. The bullets and missiles tore through the air. He could feel the heat behind him, ready to put him to sleep.

"Now!"

Naruto vanished.

The robot examined the area after the blast and found no trace of its target in the smoke.

Naruto saw his chance and took it. He flanked it, jumping onto its back, climbing up and grabbed onto its head. The blonde gripped both sides of its head, then, with all the strength he could muster ripped it away from its body.

It dropped to its knees oil shooting of the stump that is its neck. Offline.

Naruto stumbled off and managed a grin. 'Whoo! I got what I asked for.'

The boy continued to fight through the horde of robots before the ground shook and he lost his footing.

"W-What the hell?!"

He looked up and wished he hadn't.

A robot the size of a house, with retrorockets strapped onto its heavy frame. It drove through shops and cars on its route toward Naruto. Narrowly dodging a piece of flying rubble, he surmised the scene.

"So cool!"

It let out a mechanical roar and aimed its palm at him where a hole opened. Not wanting to be hit, Naruto teleported to his previous marker.

The resulting blast decimated half of the road.

'Holy shit!"

How was he supposed to deal with something like this?!

Naruto's thoughts raced, but no matter what he couldn't think of a single way to win. He lacked the raw firepower to take something this huge down, a punch would probably hurt him more.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he failed to notice the ice climbing up the robot's legs until it was covering it entirely, before shattering into pieces.

Naruto followed it to the origin point. There stood a boy with short red hair. Wait, no, it was white?

He narrowed his eyes.

...It was both.

"Thanks for the save!" He cried.

The boy shook his head and walked off.

Naruto shrugged, "Probably not the talkative type."

A loud bell rang, signaling the end of the test.

* * *

Naruto sighed.

"So you really think that?"

Izuku nodded.

"I don't think I'm going to get in, I didn't do very well," Izuku responded, looking down at the ground.

Naruto patted him on the back.

"Come on. Don't think like that, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Y-Yeah. I hope so."

Naruto decided it would just be better if he stayed quiet. They silently walked to Izuku's house together. About halfway, he placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder.

"You know. We should hang out, It's been a while."

"Yeah...with all this preparing for the exam, we haven't spent much time together."

"I miss my Izuku-kun!"

His friends' cheeks turned bright red.

"N-Naruto! We're in public. People will get the wrong idea."

Naruto shrugged, his grin widening.

"Who cares. What people think won't matter when we both ace the exam, I bet we'll be seeing a lot more of each other then."

Izuku turned crimson.

"Haha! You're so easy. See you later, Izuku!" Naruto yelled, waving goodbye.

A single thought on both their mind.

'I need to get stronger!'

* * *

A week passed since the testing took place. To say Naruto was nervous would be an understatement. Every day he checked his mailbox, hoping to see a letter of acceptance. The suspense was killing him.

Now, the answer to his question was right here staring right back at him. Folded neatly and wrapped in a yellow bow. Like a list of your cleared browsing history. It was hard to look at.

Finally, after minutes of back and forth, fighting it. He tore it the wide envelope open.

A disk fell down on his dining room table. He tapped it a few times when a light exploded from the top. Naruto fell backward onto his butt and squealed.

'I hope that thing has no camera.'

"Congratulations! You've been accepted!"

Naruto looked up, the words echoing in his ears.

'I...What?'

The hologram proceeded to explain more things, but Naruto was somewhere else.

"I DID IT!"

The celebration lasted roughly a minute, about as long as the hologram. Naruto watched the video a couple more times, making sure he understood everything. But mostly to listen to verify that, indeed, he'd made it.

He would have spent hours there, but the phone started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Naruto! Did you get a letter?"

"Izuku! Yeah, I did, what about you?"

"Yeah! I made it in!"

"Me too!"

They squealed.

"Come over for dinner, my mom is going to help us celebrate."

"I'm on the way."

Izuku hung up the phone, and a few minutes later the doorbell rang. He ran and opened it, gaping at the smiling face of his friend who'd was on the phone with him minutes ago.

They both greeted one another with a high five, smiling brightly as their excitement was too much to hold in.

"Thanks for coming over, Naruto." Izuku's mom said, waving him inside. "Dinner should be ready soon. Why don't you come inside."

"Will do. Thanks for inviting me!"

He bowed and came inside.

Izuku was already at the table, still mumbling to himself.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"I'm adding some finishing touches to my hero costume. How is yours coming along?"

Naruto froze up.

"Oh, fu-"

"Naruto..."

"'Oh, funny I totally forgot about the costume."

"Wait, you haven't made one up yet?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I never really thought about it."

"How about you work on it now? We're still waiting on dinner." Izuku suggested, pushing a few pencils and papers his way

Naruto nodded

"I want something simple though, like a tracksuit!"

"You and your weird fetish. As long as you don't make it orange."

"It isn't a fetish! And maybe I will, maybe I won't. Go chase a bag, don't worry about me."

"Whatever."


End file.
